This Time I'm Really Going To Do It

A question about : This Time I'm Really Going To Do It

I've loved this little bit of the forum and over the years have often stopped by for a bit of motivation. And from time to time have even made moves to become mortgage free, making an overpayment here, and thinking about it and even once setting a date (12/12/12) when there was a great thread here about that.

And then poooffff ... I make a start and it all fades away.

A year ago I decided that we would be mortgage free by January 2014 ... and paid off 10% of the mortgage..found that was the maximum we could pay off without penalty and then I sort of gave up. But not totally. I have been saving and over the last few weeks been looking forward to the start of september because .....drumroll....today I can make a repayment without penalty. And so I am currently on hold to the Mortgage company to do just that.

And whilst holding I thought I would also start a diary here to keep me motivated... I mean January 2014 Thats only 4 months away...surely I cant do it by then????

But rather than give up once again I'm going to see just how far I can get by that date and hopefully posting on a nice friendly board will keep the motivation up.

Back later with more figures.

Best answers:

• Right here goes with the details. We bought this house in July 2005 taking out a mortgage of Ј210,295. In the last 8 years we have made the odd capital repayment and that with the regular payments means today the mortgage was down to Ј132995.80 with 17 years still to run.
  Half the mortgage is on a fixed rate at 4.89% and half on a tracker currently at base + 1.89 so now at 2.39%.
  There are payment penalties for paying over an certain amount each year and I'm wading through the paperwork trying to work out what those penalties might be.
  And the great news is ...Mr Watty on board with the idea of overpaying too and wants me to call him at work and tell him when this overpayment made !!!!
• Hey Watty
  Don't feel disheartened, any progress, even pennies, saves you more money overall. So as we always say, any progress is good.
  It sounds like you have a good plan, wishing you the best of luck
  And a diary does help motivation
• Ј7083.25 now paid off. Just to call Mr Watty and tell him overpayment made. Hurrah!!!
• Wait a moment. The fixed part of the mortgage is charging 4.89% interest. The penalty charge is 1%. My cash ISA is paying about 2.25% So surely I am better off just overpaying that part of the mortgage and paying the penalty charge??? Help plse as I've no idea how to work that out.......
• I thought u could o\p as much as you want on the tracker,pay that off first
• No black taxi the tracker has a 3% overpayment penalty with only 5% repayments allowed (the other 5% is on the fixed). And the tracker ends in November so it would be daft to get a 3% penalty for 3 months. My maths might be poor but not that poor
• id just max out what you CAN do without penalties,save the rest
• I think the very fact that they charge you for overpaying is disgusting. I don't do maths well but do favour paying off if you can, as there is so little to be gained by saving at the moment. Good luck.
  Squirrel
• Thanks Squirrell. That is the way I am leaning with the chunk that has the 1% penalty on it.
  Reading the diaries yesterday a brillant concept struck me. That of "Mortgage Neutral" ...I have no idea why that never occured to me before. I had a bit of all or nothing thinking. If i couldnt pay off a chunk of the mortgage then I didnt really think about it. But savings that equal the mortgage ...oh wow that was an amazing concept and one that had never occured to me before
  Am going to work on the bank accounts today and see where we can save money.
• Hi Watty1
  Looking forward to following your progress! I am like you in some ways, I spend months trying to save money to pay chunks off the mortgage then I wander onto the wayside and then back on again! Hoping reading your diary will inspire me to keep on as well!
• GreenNinja we sound so alike. Keep reading. I am going to get there. I am. I am.
  After 3 days heroic efforts (ahem more of that later) I found myself contemplating a lovely pair of country boots on line and only just stopped myself reaching for the card to buy them feeling that the excuse *its nearly winter and I dont want to spend all winter in my wellies* was not really up to the mark. Will restrain self for the moment!
• Well our monthly bills seem to be as low as I can get them. I have been keeping an MSE style check in on the electricity etc but did manage to save Ј26 a month off the buildings and contents insurance.
  Would love to say that would be going into an overpayment fund but a serious look at our joint account shows that we are seriously not living within our means. We have a joint account into which DP pays his salary and from which we spend with my money going into an account in my name which pays the mortgage and the horses from my earnings.
  Ah..the horses. Now, thats how we went from mortgage free a few years back to living in a house with paddocks and stables. All so it would be *cheaper* I never exactly shared how much the little darlings cost though the other half has finally worked it out I think.
  So, todays challenge will be to review the joint account and see where we can actually save some money so we live within our means and dont use any excess in my account to 'bail' it out. I am not exactly looking forward to this exercise but needs must if we are to scrimp and save our way to the next overpayment.
• oh dear. Am reading diaries on this forum for inspiration and all this talk of no spend days is worrying me.
  I'm thinking that yesterday I spent Ј100 at the dentist, Tuesday I spent Ј5 going to a demonstration by someone I wanted to watch as I'm thinking of getting him to start the yet to be purchased young horses, Ј20 on a lunch out with pal who came to demo with me (I put some cash towards hers for good reasons) and Monday the farrier came and shod the horses. Today has the potential to be a no spend day but it is just possible the farmer may deliver the winter hay.
  Will go and put washing on line and get something out of freezer for dinner and pick a couple of apples from the baby trees and then I really must start work. I work from home but sometimes the word work is aspirational rather than reality Thankfully I am self employed !!
• Hey Watty,
  I wouldn't get to worried about NSDs. I don't count bills having to be paid or getting petrol as spends on NSDs, it's more about the unnecessary spends. So, for example, I wouldn't count the dentist, farrier or the winter hay, as those are bills you can't avoid.
  It's more about - you had to go to the dentist, did you park in the carpark that costs money, or did you park slightly further away, walk in, and save yourself the parking ticket? Etc etc.
  So for example, last night I went out to see two friends, first one we just sat in her house and chatted, second one we went to the cinema but I went on Orange Wednesday and she had her unlimited card so it was free!
  As somebody once said to me too, we're not on DFW, we're on MFW, so if you do fall off the bandwagon and spend something, that's fine, if you can afford it then yeah, splash out a bit sometimes. My biggest vice is coffee and food, which I'm trying to reduce.
  In the end, I'm looking to have NSDs as it will save me money, meaning I have more money left over at the end of the month for OPs and savings.
  HTH!
  Cal
• Fabulous Calfuray I now understand No Spend Days . Thanks. Working from home, keeping the horses at home, having dog in house, being a hermit means I dont actually spend that much cash so am always mystified that we have so little money left over at the end of each month.
  Diary certainly helps with the motivation to look at this though as having said yesterday i would look at the joint account and work out where the money actually goes, I finally did that yesterday evening. Armed with highlights and calculator I discovered that "we spend a lot". Ha ha. I knew that already but I know see clearly where it goes and had a long think about that and where we could save money.
  10% of the money going in comes out as *cash* and Mr Watty says he spends his on extra food!! Was horrified by this as he seems to spend around Ј10 a day on food anyway when at work (he works a weird shift system so is not every day thankfully) and our actual food *and other* meaning cleaning stuff for house and selves came out Ј554 in August Would love to say there is a house full of people but actually there is only 2 humans, 1 large dog and 2 horses.
  So, food bill needs cutting. We discussed that last night and do admit we are very time poor (despite the amount of time I spend reading on here I really do have a full time job and the house is old and has many bits that need work blah de blah). Excuses over, we still need to save money. So I spent some time reseaching ideas as Mr Watty says he wont take food to work as he likes chicken and salads and he does not have time to make his own. He likes to snack on nuts and fruit. Ummm....Excuses me thinks. So, I think we need to start with packed lunches that would be cheap and portable and he would like.
  We also live in a reasonably rural area - the chap up the road keeps chickens and sells eggs at the gate for half the price Mr Ocado delivers them at (delivery cheaper than driving to supermarket) so lots of eggs on the menu me thinks. And I need to investigate exactly what veggies the neighbours sell at the gate as that should be cheaper too.
  And the bill that seemed high was our electricity at Ј88 a month - so - as was a cheap supplier - have found our little OWL monitor and put new batteries in. Will figure out how to programme it later today for up to date info. That bill must come down too.
  Gas really high too but not on mains gas and gas not nickable like the oil (lots of folk here have had their oil stolen). I've never really understood how to get the gas price down, though large tank might. When I'm feeling brave will post on the MSE board for help tho they were a bit scary over there last time I tried.
  So thats todays plans to start saving.
  And found 65 pence whilst tidying. In the face of such high bills it seems daft to say I put that in my purse and moved an equal amount into the overpayment fund ...but..every little helps
• Doing well on the food spending as havent been to supermarket. Am making do with cash in the village and the freezer.
  Mr Watty off work at the moment on hols and goes back middle of next week. This is great as its nice to have him around, various jobs get done (mainly at his dads but I sort of believe he might do some here ......) and we are saving on travel!
  I think a decent food plan each week is the way to go and yes, Floppy Disk made a great point about making his lunch for him. I'm also planning on making a couple of vats of soup so he has that when he comes in after a late shift rather than stopping enroute for "extras". Oddly enough he was fine as this all involves no effort on his part
  Haven't figured the OWL out yet but have been switching off lights and not leaving anything on standby. Was shocked to see the heating came on Monday That was switched off pronto in favour of a jumper!!
  The house is an old brick built outbuilding and converted to house and if we'd realised how damp and cold it would be we might have done something about it when we were renovating but hey ho. To late now. Have lit wood burning stove instead. As we get our wood really cheap (we collect offcuts on our big trailer from a local timber yard and Mr Watty and his mate chop it up) this is a cheap way of keeping building toasty and dry.
  Not doing too well on building up the Mortgage savings pot .. Sat was out for lunch with friends (train fare to London + lunch out) Sunday went to the Southern Fell Pony show. Ended up sponsoring a class, buying a book and some christmas cards and a couple of bacon rolls despite having food in the car. Still did take flasks (which failed to keep the tea water hot and clearly need chucking out) and lunch so that was a positive.
  And finally yesterday felt smug as after reviewing August's business income and outgoings I had nearly Ј1000 left over to pop in Mortgage pot .... and then today I spent over twice that on a paddock hoover to pick up the pony poo in the fields.
  Am justifying this as no longer employ person to help out on the yard and I am time poor. If I use this instead of employing someone I will break even by easter
  As Calfuray said last week "we are MFW not DFW"... and that comment has cheered me up more than she will ever guess
• Hi Watty, sounds like you're doing great things! You must have saved a packet with the latest op.
  Can I just say that I absolutely love that there is such a thing in the world as a paddock hoover! Despite living in the country for most of my life I've never heard of such a thing! Obviously had a sheltered life!
  Good luck with the packed lunches.